The Electronic Silk Road

How the Web Binds the World Together in Commerce

Cyber-law expert Anupam Chander explores how global trade on the Internet is now regulated, why regulation matters to individuals as well as nations, and how better regulatory laws can encourage international trade while protecting national and human rights.

About the Book

On the ancient Silk Road, treasure-laden caravans made their arduous way through deserts and mountain passes, establishing trade between Asia and the civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean. Today’s electronic Silk Roads ferry information across continents, enabling individuals and corporations anywhere to provide or receive services without obtaining a visa. But the legal infrastructure for such trade is yet rudimentary and uncertain. If an event in cyberspace occurs at once everywhere and nowhere, what law applies? How can consumers be protected when engaging with companies across the world?

In this accessible book, cyber-law expert Anupam Chander provides the first thorough discussion of the law that relates to global Internet commerce. Addressing up-to-the-minute examples, such as Google’s struggles with China, the Pirate Bay’s skirmishes with Hollywood, and the outsourcing of services to India, the author insightfully analyzes the difficulties of regulating Internet trade. Chander then lays out a framework for future policies, showing how countries can dismantle barriers while still protecting consumer interests.

Book Reviews

Jagdish Bhagwati,University Professor, Columbia University

“The world of commerce has changed for services. A masterly analysis of the implications of this development, this book is a tour de force.”

Chris Coons,United States Senator

“A must read for those interested in globalization in the information age and the public policy challenges, opportunities, and pitfalls that will result. Anupam Chander offers an insightful primer on international cyberlaw and a thoughtful set of proposals for adapting to a changed world.”

Ricardo Ramírez-Hernández,Chair of the Appellate Body, World Trade Organization

“This engaging book makes a powerful argument for embracing trade, without displacing law, along the new digital trade routes. Indeed, it recognizes law as crucial to promoting both trade and consumer protection. This is an important contribution to thinking about the international legal order.”

Mira Burri,University of Bern

“Chander accentuates what is often forgotten–the importance of law underlying the digital evolution. Highly readable and enjoyable, The Electronic Silk Road is a piece of sound intellectual work, which is handsomely written.”

Mark Wu,Harvard Law School

“Anupam Chander takes us on a fascinating journey, raising provocative questions on how to balance competing global and local interests when managing new trade dynamics. Anyone interested in the digital transformation of commerce should consider carefully Chander’s insights.”

W. Michael Reisman,Yale Law School

“An extraordinarily lucid and colorful description of the way cybertrade is changing global commerce — and global society. Chander proposes realistic legal arrangements that can secure the Web’s benefits and avert its perils. This is an important book.”

Deji Olukotun,PEN American Center

“Chander examines how international trade is ordering human rights and free expression in the digital age. Virtual borders and transnational corporations are here to stay, and Chander’s notion of ‘net-work’ offers us a sobering analysis of the dangers, and the possibilities.”

“The range of legal and political issues implicated by trade in online information services is vast and some are quite arcane. Yet, Chander brings them together beautifully in a wonderfully accessible book that is very readable without being simplistic.”

Michael Birnhack,Tel Aviv University

“Chander beautifully weaves together theory and practice, trade, culture and politics, into a complex yet clear argument, sophisticated yet down to earth, and a beautifully written text.”

Molly Land,University of Connecticut School of Law

“Chander’s book masterfully brings together a set of debates about technology, privacy, and human rights to consider the pitfalls and promise of regulating Internet trade.”

Haochen Sun,University of Hong Kong

“Skillfully written with elegant prose, the book explores complex challenges posed by culture, politics, and technology associated with trade in information services.”

Fred Tung,Boston University School of Law

“An engaging, ambitious, and thought-provoking book [that] belongs on the shelf (or e-reader!) of everyone interested in international trade.”

Paul Shiff Berman,Vice-Provost, George Washington University

“As befits a broadly synthetic work about the electronic silk road, Anupam stiches together an impressive array of examples that convincingly demonstrate the importance of the global trade in services.”

Frank Pasquale,University of Maryland School of Law

“The Electronic Silk Road is packed with fascinating narratives about the legal conflicts that digitization generates.”

About Anupam Chander

Anupam Chander is Director of the California International Law Center and Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, where he is a Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall Research Scholar. He has been a visiting professor at Yale Law School, the University of Chicago Law School, Stanford Law School, and Cornell Law School. He has published widely in the nation’s leading law journals, including the Yale Law Journal, the NYU Law Journal, the University of Chicago Law Review, the Texas Law Review, and the California Law Review.

A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, he clerked for Chief Judge Jon O. Newman of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge William A. Norris of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He practiced law in New York and Hong Kong with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.